


*minhyuk voice* i can't swim

by mongaygay



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: M/M, drowning minhyuk, kihyuk are ex-bestfriends, minhyuk can't swim, minhyuk is too gay to function, talks of babie kihyuk, wonho is soft and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 00:04:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14904696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mongaygay/pseuds/mongaygay
Summary: And then he realises (in a panic) that his feet are not on the floor.This… is the shallow end right? (It isn’t.) He has a comical, cartoon-ish moment where the character realises there’s no floor beneath them then falls, his poor dangling feet trying to find the floor while his arms grab onto the side of the pool for dear life. He presses his palms onto the floor outside the pool and pushes with all his might, trying to hoist himself over. Nope. He tries again. Nope. And then he sees Yoo Kihyun look in his general direction again and sticks his elbow down onto the side like he was staking a claim (a claim to life? yeah) and rests his chin on his hand with a facade of calm as though the water isn’t threatening to take him. Underneath the surface of the water where Yoo Kihyun’s shady little eyes can’t follow him, his chicken legs are flapping like crazy in an attempt to keep him afloat. Is he going to die at this damn party?This. This is how it ends.





	*minhyuk voice* i can't swim

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt my my friend Megan: minhyuk doesn’t know how to swim but there’s this beach party that all his classmates are going to so he decides he HAS to go. For the clout or whatever and he does but once he enters the water (to look… cool) he can’t.. Get back out
> 
> It's severely edited so it's not quite what you'd expect but I hope you'll enjoy anyway! 
> 
> This can kind of be seen as a prequel to Saturn but it can be read as a standalone too <3
> 
> You can always find me on twitter @mongaygay and on tumblr @buttbebe !! Talk to me if you want

He already knows it, as he sits in Hyungwon’s car, squeezed in the backseat like some sort of sitting-in-the-backseat loser, staring out the window, feeling the polyester stretch against his thighs from under his pants.

 

Minhyuk already knows this is a bad idea. He’s known it since he had dug out his old swimming briefs from deep, deep inside his mother’s closet, searched it upside down and inside out for mould or other such grossness, and had tried it on to see if it even still fit. Heck, he’s even known it since he got the call from Hyungwon in the first place informing him of a random stranger’s pool party that night that they “are totally crashing, because Jooheon will be there.” He had known from Hyungwon’s pathetic, lovesick voice that this? This is a bad, bad idea. 

 

First of all, none of them were invited. That might even be an understatement. None of them even know who the host of this party is, or anything about the party other than that Hyungwon’s crush was attending, and that he was dragging all of them there with him. Minhyuk already has tingles from his thighs all the way to his feet, and they are not good tingles. No, they are real bad. Real bad tingles. But that’s not even the biggest reason why crashing a random stranger’s pool party with no excuse or plan at all is a bad idea.

 

The second-of-all and Biggest Reason is that… well… Minhyuk can’t swim. That really is the best way to put it. He had fallen deep into the community pool as a toddler (his father had accidentally let go of his hand) and chances are, not all of him had made it back out. He had never gone swimming again (read in an ominously sad narrator’s voice). 

 

“No time to mope! We’re here.” He barely has time to register that before Changkyun leans across him and opens the door, leaving him to tumble out gracefully. The house is magnificent, as all houses should be if they are hosting a massive pool party, but all Minhyuk can register is that they really don’t know anyone there. Changkyun and Hyungwon take him by the arms and march him in before he can chicken out. The party’s already begun, people (strangers) milling around, screaming, drinking, standing around awkwardly, the music playing so loud from the speakers that all he can make out is the bass as it echoes across the walls and mash into something horrible and fun. 

 

He spends too much time staring around and looking for the pool before he realises his friends have already ditched him. Wow. He sees a long person that might be Hyungwon flutter past him towards a cute dimpled boy sitting on the table surrounded by friends (admirers). Minhyuk sighs and turns away in second hand embarrassment as his poor best friend joins the throng of gushing idiots, quickly becoming the biggest of them all. Once again he has to brush off the thought of running away from this dumb party. He has to dodge past every other person in the party hoping they don’t realise that he’s a complete stranger. At least he’s found the pool. But what is he going to do with it? Should he go in? He’s thinking he’ll just hang out at the shallow end of the pool and listen to music and sip red bull until the party ends and then he sees him. 

 

Him. Yoo Kihyun. Minhyuk gapes in frustration and shock at his enemy-for-life. He had held a grudge against since kindergarten when they had been best friends until he had left him for some older little kid because he was “bigger”. He still burns up inside knowing that Yoo Kihyun had just thrown away 5 months of friendship just to hold another (bigger) boy’s hand for a week. Well… It’s not like beefcake ever did anything wrong, and he had graduated kindergarten like a week after the betrayal, so all the anger was pinned onto Yoo Kihyun. Trust this asshole to show up to a party like this. He tries to avoid his eye but Kihyun looks up just at that moment.

 

Oh no. Minhyuk can’t think of any way out of his predicament other than flight or termination (and he’d love to terminate Kihyun) and he doesn’t have much time to make a decision. He doesn’t realise he’s pulled off his pants and shirt until he’s jumped into the pool already. He sees Kihyun turn away and sighs in relief. He is not planning to embarrass himself tonight, not in front of kindergarten ex-best friend Yoo Kihyun. Not Today.    
  
And then he realises (in a panic) that his feet are not on the floor. 

 

This… is the shallow end right? (It isn’t.) He has a comical, cartoon-ish moment where the character realises there’s no floor beneath them then falls, his poor dangling feet trying to find the floor while his arms grab onto the side of the pool for dear life. He presses his palms onto the floor outside the pool and pushes with all his might, trying to hoist himself over. Nope. He tries again. Nope. And then he sees Yoo Kihyun look in his general direction again and sticks his elbow down onto the side like he was staking a claim (a claim to life? yeah) and rests his chin on his hand with a facade of calm as though the water isn’t threatening to take him. Underneath the surface of the water where Yoo Kihyun’s shady little eyes can’t follow him, his chicken legs are flapping like crazy in an attempt to keep him afloat. Is he going to die at this damn party?

 

This. This is how it ends. 

 

His feet brush pathetically against the walls of the pool trying to get over the edge to pull himself out but all he does is give himself the mental image of tickling this fucking swimming pool weakly. He sees Kihyun turn away and is about to go back into full on visibly panicking mode when someone slips into the pool next to him. Shit. He does his best to turn around, but honestly he doesn’t dare to move his elbow from where he has firmly stuck it for fear of the water devouring him, so he just has to look like an asshole, adamantly facing the other way. 

 

“Hi.” 

Now he looks even more like an asshole, but he’d rather do that than drown horrifically in a random stranger’s party he isn’t even supposed to be in. He kind of peeks over his shoulder and grunts a greeting in response, but honestly he doesn’t really want to engage. Then he feels the water start moving around him as the stranger swims around to be in front of him.

 

He really didn’t want to engage, but now that the stranger is in front of him, shirtless, wet, smiling, confident, he decides he doesn’t mind. It is undeniable, and he doesn’t really understand why he’s so surprised really since parties really are where you go to meet these kinds of strangers, but he supposes it’s because he really hasn’t met anyone in a while and anyway, this stranger is really, really-

 

“Hot,” He says out loud, “Oh shit, I meant hi.” The guy smiles at him and Minhyuk has no choice but to remain in his calm facade, like he meant to be stuck in a stranger’s swimming pool hanging on for dear life, or even better, like he can swim. He feels worse when the hot stranger stretches out a hand for him to shake and for the life of him he doesn’t dare to let go of the side of the pool. He just nods at the poor dude and juts his chin awkwardly in the direction of the hand. 

 

“I’m Wonho, by the way.” Finally, a name to the (pretty) face. Hoseok shuffles up till he’s closer to Minhyuk and leans against the wall as well. Minhyuk sneaks a peek into the water and sees him doing some sort of like gentle kicking back and forth to stay afloat and almost falls trying to copy him. He’s not exactly comfortable but he’s technically chilling in a pool under the stars with a pretty stranger, so he supposes he’s living his best life if he’d just let himself do it. He finally smiles for the first time that night and replies, “I’m Lee Minhyuk.” The pop music is still blasting hard but he feels like he’s living what his indie folk playlist is all about (he’s not), and then he feels kind of pretentious, but then Wonho slips a bit closer and their fingers brush, and he feels just right. 

 

Wonho tucks a Minhyuk’s bangs behind his ear slightly and Minhyuk thanks the heavens that he hadn’t gotten that haircut his friends had been pressuring him to and also that he hadn’t gotten his hair wet. He really is living the dream, huh. (His poor tired feet struggling to keep him above water argue otherwise.) 

 

“You’re really different from everyone else at this party.” Minhyuk blushes or whatever your face does when you’re gay and a cute guy tells you something sweet. He has to turn away to hide his dumb smiling face before he looks back at Wonho, “What do you mean?” 

 

“I mean, everyone’s walking around screaming and or splashing or drinking. You’re like… removed from all that.” Minhyuk realises with defeat that all of these things Wonho is describing are symptoms of getting stuck inside the pool. He laughs sheepishly and shrugs in that Well, You Know Me way, except that Wonho doesn’t know him and is already falsely impressed by traits of Minhyuk that he didn’t choose. 

 

Guess he needs to keep pretending he’s chill if he wants to keep Wonho’s attention. 

 

“I’ve never really liked these parties, actually,” Oh? Why?

“But I always end up coming because my best friend needs a drive home, you know? Today’s the first party I’ve actually wanted to come to.” Minhyuk can’t help smiling affectionately at this dude who seems so distant from all the noise of the party. Now that he thinks about it Wonho seems kind of shy. Kind of cool, too. Maybe it’s the night sky enveloping the two of them in their lonely corner of the pool or the way the stars seem to twinkle to Wonho’s blinks, but despite the painful cramp in his elbows and tired feet, Minhyuk thinks this is exactly where he wants to be. Thanks to Hyungwon and his gay ass, Minhyuk is here in this amazing pool talking with a cute boy for the first time in months.

 

“Yeah, I don’t really come to these parties either.” Well, it’s not a lie, really. He loves socialising and making friends, but he’s not super comfortable at parties either. At parties, everyone is the screaming bitch and he doesn’t feel special. But really, on a serious note, he doesn’t always have the mental energy to handle these parties. He doesn’t really know why he came to this one either, but he’s here and so is Wonho and he doesn’t regret a thing. 

 

“I’m… glad you came here tonight.” Wonho smiles shyly at him and Minhyuk notices the corners of his mouth as they go up black and deep into his cheeks and how his nose twitches nervously. Is he even human? Minhyuk laughs and is almost pained by how raspy it sounds, “I’m glad I came here too.” They spend a couple of minutes just kind of smiling at each other before Wonho starts to pull himself out of the water.

 

He probably sees Minhyuk gaping sadly at him because he kneels back down to face Minhyuk and smiles just for him to see, “I’m just going to get a drink, pouty. Do you want anything?” Minhyuk laughs in relief and shakes his head (he can’t handle his liquor) and just watches the cute beefcake walk away. He’s just so cute. For a second, Minhyuk considers following him to the drinks, but the third failed try to make it out of this goddamn pool tells him it’s just not meant to be. He just has to watch Wonho walk off, far, far. He thinks maybe he finally understands “I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you leave.”

 

He’s got, like, really short, tight swim shorts on and Minhyuk can’t help but stare. And is that… an ass tattoo? He gulps so hard he wonders why he doesn’t just sink in and turns away with a lot of effort (not because he’s too gay but because he has to keep some part of him on the solid surface at any point). Before he even knows it he has to whip back around (he almost falls in) because he hears two voices together that he doesn’t think he should ever.

 

Yoo Kihyun and Wonho. Talking, together. Like chums. Chums? He doesn’t have time to question his own word choice; he’s too busy trying to keep his head on straight from spinning around too hard. They really are talking together, he sees now, at the drink table. Wonho’s leaning towards Kihyun as they laugh together at something Minhyuk can’t hear, their fingers closed around the same bottle of… what is that? Minhyuk can’t see from where he’s been planted, but he despairs that it might be alcohol. Yet another thing he can’t partake in with cute, beautiful Wonho, and this time the being-stuck-in-the-pool is not even to blame. He curses his alcohol intolerance, blowing a raspberry and turning away again. 

 

Of course this beautiful chance encounter with a lovely stranger under the stars isn’t meant to be. They seem close, he thinks, and he can still hear their perfect conversation from behind him. Are they… They probably are. They seem very close. God, he can’t even have a love life without Yoo Kihyun tainting it with all his Yoo-Kihyun-ness. He can’t even put in his earphones and sink to his sweet, sweet death because he dumped his phones with his clothes in God Knows Where. 

 

At this point he finally sees a familiar figure in the party, right across the pool from where he was. Changkyun! Im Changkyun! One of his garbage friends who had ditched him the minute they had arrived at the party! He screams silently in his direction, using one free hand to signal desperately for help, praying that Wonho wouldn’t turn around. How oblivious can one dude wearing sunglasses on the back of his head get? Very, it turns out. Minhyuk wants to murder him, and he really is planning, but then he hears Wonho coming back into the water with him and has to chill.  _ Guess I’m stuck here with a dude who’s with Yoo Kihyun, I guess _ , he thinks resignedly. Changkyun finally turns around and gives him a the slowest, easiest, kind of confused, most blissed-out smile possible as if Minhyuk, his friend of 5 years, isn’t in a panic. He shoots him a quick How You Doing thumbs up and all Minhyuk wants to do is flail until he’s pulled out but Wonho is now looking at him and he can’t do that, so he just returns him a pained smile and returns the thumbs up.  _ Oh you  _ chose _ to be stuck _ , he scolds himself internally. 

 

Wonho hands him a drink, and Minhyuk is surprised to note that it’s a pepsi. How did he know? He watches as Wonho takes a sip and realises he’s drinking pepsi too. Huh. He laughs and brings the cup to his lips, but then he sees Wonho watching him with such gentle eyes and he begins to froth at the mouth (the pepsi bubbles spill down the sides of the cup). He laughs and Wonho laughs and they laughed together for the first time and Minhyuk begs the stars above that it won’t be the last. 

 

(Without noticing, his feet have followed Wonho’s comfortable rhythm to keep him afloat.)

 

“So, you and that dude… You’re real close, huh?” Oh Minhyuk, you envious gay idiot. He has to will himself not to physically cringe, but then Wonho replies, “Oh yeah, we’re not dating, if that’s what you’re wondering. I wouldn’t be here with you like this if that were true.” Minhyuk unpacks all the layers of that. Oh. Oh. They aren’t together, he still has a chance. And the way Wonho phrased it implies he’s there with Minhyuk for… romantic ventures. He almost chokes on his pepsi again but Wonho promptly takes it away from his mouth and puts it away. And then he moves closer to Minhyuk and Minhyuk is excited and terrified of all the possibilities and he wants to move closer and also wants to run away, but he just stays perfectly still just to test the waters (pool pun!). 

 

Their faces are so, so close, and Minhyuk can almost taste him on his breath and he kind of wants to kiss him and really wants to know what’s going to happen next, and then Wonho smiles and he just says, “You’re really pretty, Lee Minhyuk.” 

They laugh together again and Minhyuk feels like just this feeling alone is enough to shoot fireworks from his flat ass strong enough to carry him out of the pool. Oh shit, he’s cute. Minhyuk falls fast, but it’s just been a slippery (water pun!) slope since he had come into this party. He kind of likes his avalanche. 

 

They spend the rest of the party laughing and talking together and it’s like, really fun. Minhyuk is in love with his smile and his one dimple and the way he fidgets all the time like every movement is a proposal or a suggestion that he’s nervous about and the way that shows Minhyuk how considerate he is, like he always wants him to be as comfortable as possible. He’s in love with how they stop talking at some points and just kind of stare at each other then laugh like there’s nothing else to do (sometimes they laugh at how their hands have gotten pruny in the pool), and how Wonho’s lips pout when he’s trying to explain something. He looks at Wonho and he thinks maybe that’s why the stars came out to watch tonight, because his presence commands their envy, and he loves that. He loves that and a lot of things about Wonho, and he doesn’t love him yet, that’d be too childish, but he does like him, and he could learn. He learns a lot of things that night, like how Wonho also can’t drink alcohol and how he’s terrified of heights (he asks Minhyuk what he’s scared of and Minhyuk doesn’t dare to say drowning so he says birds). He learns that Wonho likes music and drones and collects toys and that he likes Minhyuk’s face and smile and eyes. He’s never liked learning so much more than tonight. Even the pool feels comfortable with him around, even the stupid cramp in his stupid elbow he still has planted firmly to keep him alive and above surface. 

 

And then it’s over, like, really fast. He’s not stupid, he’s been seeing people milling out slowly as they all headed home horribly drunk and tired. He thinks probably even his ride (Gay Hyungwon) has ditched him (again) by now. They had stayed unmoving from their lonely gay corner of the pool as the night took on darkness and the stars had just kept shining brighter, and now it seemed they were the only ones left outside (or even at the party at all). 

 

“I think that’s our cue to leave, Minhyuk,” Wonho says as he climbs out of the pool and watches the last car pull out from the party. Minhyuk nods, “Yeah, you got that right.” And he tries to follow Wonho’s lead, casually pulling himself out the water, before he remembers that he is stuck, that he’s not Wonho and that he definitely still cannot swim. If he hadn’t forgotten this, he could have seized an opportunity to casually hold out his hand to Wonho and go all,  _ hey babe could you give me a hand? _ But it’s too late for casual-ness (not too late for casualties though, he reminds himself as he almost dies trying to climb out). 

 

Wonho’s already walked away, picking up all the trash and what-nots scattered around the pool and Minhyuk almost forgets he’s on the verge of drowning to death because Wonho is so sweet. He could melt, he really could. What he can’t do is get the fuck out of the swimming pool. Who is he even kidding? He’s going to die in here. Not to mention he can’t help but look unhelpful because Wonho’s being an angel and he’s still chilling in the pool as far as the eye can see. Wonho keeps shooting him small smiles and looks and Minhyuk wonders why he hasn’t become part of the pool water already. 

 

After what seems like forever, Wonho finally walks back over to him and Minhyuk thinks he might be dreaming because after being stuck in the pool for probably the whole night, Wonho is holding out a hand to pull him up. He’s saved. He was in distress and now he’s saved by the pretty boy who’s been cheering him up so much for the night. He wonders if sensations can be described as picturesque because this is the most beautiful feeling. Not just because he’s not, well, drowning anymore, but he’s now mostly stress free and he still gets to keep the good parts of the night.

 

“Hey, actually why don’t we go wash up inside the house? I’m friends with the guy who’s hosting.” Minhyuk recalls that he does  _ not  _ know the owner and that he was not invited to this party, but Wonho is smiling sweetly at him and it’s so casual and he’s  _ gay _ , he’s not going to say no to that. He’s too busy staring at Wonho to really look around the house when they enter, and before he knows it he’s been dropped off in one of the bathrooms with spare clothes shoved into his hands. Dang, he’s comfortable here, Minhyuk thinks as he watches Wonho bumbling around the house like it is his own. It takes him a lot of effort to finally close the door, blocking his own vision of that vision.  

 

I’m so pruny, he thinks as he stares at his hands. He was really out there holding Wonho’s angel hands with his garbage raisins, huh. He lets the water run for a bit before getting into the shower, and when he looks around he has an odd familiar feeling. Well, Changkyun did read somewhere that Deja Vu is caused by fatigue, so he must really be tired out by the events of the day. How could he possibly have been here before? He occupies his mind with thoughts of Wonho as he washes up and dries off in a stranger’s bathroom. Guess the night didn’t go so badly, after all. He met a cute boy and he didn’t drown. He wonders whether his friends had looked for him at all, and makes to text them. Oh shit, where’s his phone? He remembers leaving it with his clothes outside and makes a mental note to pick it up on the way out.

 

He slips into the clothes Wonho had given him and opens the bathroom door, once again noting the familiarity of this place, before coming face to face with Yoo Kihyun himself. Shit.

 

“Lee Minhyuk?”

 

“Yoo Kihyun?” What the hell is he still doing at the party when everyone else has left? Minhyuk tries to feign ignorance and walk away quickly, but Kihyun grabs him by the wrist with a steel grip.

 

“Lee Minhyuk, I’m talking to you. Why are you in my house?”

 

Huh? He can physically feel his head spinning in confusion. His.. house… Oh.

 

“And why are you in Wonho Hyung’s clothes?”

 

Wonho’s clothes? He… Huh? He has absolutely no idea what’s going on. Minhyuk does not know the answers to these questions. Why  _ is _ he in Yoo Kihyun’s house wearing Wonho’s clothes? Wouldn’t he like to know, himself? Is he dreaming? Did he die in the pool and go to (he pauses and looks at Kihyun) hell? 

 

After they seem to have stared awkwardly at each other in silence for a thousand years, Wonho finally shows up and slings an arm around Kihyun’s shoulders.

 

“Kihyunnie, Minhyuk. I see you’ve met.”

 

They both stare at him with the same perplexed looks that they’ve been passing back and forth for those last thousand years, and Wonho makes as if to introduce them, before Kihyun interrupts him, “Hyung, what is my old kindergarten best friend who hates me doing in my house wearing your clothes?” Wonho freezes for a second, blinks, and then he looks from Kihyun to Minhyuk, back to Kihyun, back to Minhyuk.

 

“Wait, that was him?”

 

Huh? Minhyuk has a vague idea of what might be going on but he doesn’t dare to consider it in case it turns out to be true.

 

It does.

 

“Um, hi Minhyuk. Do you remember me? You hit me in kindergarten and ran away crying?” 

 

He really wants to stop himself, he really, really does, but before he can cover his mouth, he blurts out, “ _ You’re _ the beefcake baby!” And  _ then _ he covers his mouth. Then Wonho’s laughing and for the first time in the night Minhyuk is too pained to laugh with him. Even when his concave ass was submerged deep in the pool, taking on water, he wasn’t too sad to laugh with him. Wow, Yoo Kihyun’s impact.

 

How the fuck does destiny work? His kindergarten best friend was stolen by a beefcake baby who graduated a week later and then they end up flirting at a party in Kihyun’s house? He kind of just wants to run away from his garbage ex-best friend and the all-grown-up beefcake baby but his legs (once again) don’t work. He curses them internally, what are you even good for? 

 

“Hey, by the way, I think I found your clothes and your phone,” Wonho hands him a bag with his things inside and he can see his phone still repeatedly lighting up with worried messages. “Why were you in the pool if you don’t know how to swim?” Minhyuk sees his life flash before his very eyes. The jig is up, it truly is. He makes a mental note to MURDER his DUMBASS friends before the night ends, right after he escapes this nightmare den. Yoo Kihyun is snickering at him from behind Wonho and he can’t even fight him because he’s Wonho’s best friend.

 

He really just wants to run, and he thinks maybe he should, then Wonho takes him by the hand and leads him away. Thank god. He hopes that Wonho will just dump him in the pool and leave him to rot, but maybe that’s too optimistic. 

“I’ll drive you home, if you want.” 

 

He almost swoons, and he thinks maybe he’ll push his murder plans to next week. He’s perfectly content with holding Wonho’s hand for now and the promised ride home. His garbage friends don’t deserve him anyway. This is nice. This is nice. He packs up the rollercoaster of emotions and stows it away for the next chance encounter with a beautiful stranger. 

 

He spends the whole ride home stupidly and happily imaging all their possibilities and smiling back at Wonho everytime he throws him a smile (every few seconds). He almost doesn’t want it to end. He’s praying it doesn’t, just as the car pulls up on his street. (The urge to groan out loud almost overwhelms him, but he’s pacified when Wonho leans over him to help him open the door.) 

 

And then when he gets off, Wonho pulls him back gently by the hand.

 

“Do you want me to teach you how to swim sometime?”


End file.
